Chest-bumping at the
Air Force Academy: Many Latin Americans take
a dim view of President Bush, to say nothing
of his policies on Cuba ...
La Jornada,
Mexico
U.S. 'Caligula'
Has No Standing to Advocate for Cuban Freedom
"U.S. President George W. Bush
- so discredited in his own country and in some ways bordering on mental
retardation - persists in harassing the Cuban people under the ridiculous
pretext of advocating liberty in that nation … It's difficult to comprehend how
a psychopath raised to the heights of power can be regarded as a referee and
leader of the struggle for freedom."
As he has done repeatedly,
U.S. President George W. Bush - so discredited in his own country and in some
ways bordering on mental retardation - persists in harassing the Cuban people
under the ridiculous pretext of advocating liberty in that nation, which has
for almost half a century endured terrorist attacks financed and supported from
the highest spheres of the U.S. government.
The oligarchy of that country
says it is very-much worried by the constraining living conditions under which
Cubans have for so long had to safeguard their integrity and sovereignty, while
it has simultaneously done everything possible to destroy the many (few, some
say) achievements in the areas of education, health, welfare and dignity of
Cubans - the very indicators of development in the name of which U.S. hypocrisy
perpetrates the atrocities it commits.
It's fitting to recall that
for many years, successive U.S. administrations have engaged in criminal
terrorist activity to undemine the morale of the
Cuban people, with the supposed objective of “liberating” them.
Thus, in order to “liberate”
Cubans, the U.S. government hasn't hesitated to implement all kinds of activity
to crush the Revolution since the moment of its inception. The imperial
justifications for resorting to state terrorism range from combating communism
to respect for human rights, and now to invoking economic freedom.
With this series of hoaxes,
the U.S. government trained, armed and sent mercenaries against the island to
wound, kill, mutilate and kidnap. It has bombed schools, factories and
co-operatives. With the help of renegade Cuban exiles who attacked their own
homeland, U.S. advisors embarked on these incursions - killing militiamen who
fell while defending their co-operatives, schools and poultry farms and cutting
off the ears of the island's peasant teens. Such post mortem mutilation,
apart from being a humiliating practice typical of the colonial mentality (“war
trophies” and convincing evidence of valor), was intended to sow terror and by
example act as a corrective measure, showing the campesinos
of the island who were their masters.
Years before they popularized
the concept of weapons of mass destruction so hypocritically applied against
the enemies of the empire (Saddam Hussein is the best illustration of this),
U.S. leaders used such weapons against the island. From U.S. military
laboratories along the Panama Canal, originated biological cultures destined to
contaminate pig farms, destroy Cuban foodstuffs and reduce resistance from the
people with hunger. What it was then, was an attempt to punish Cubans for
supporting the Revolution. In a broader context, what better example of the use
of weapons of mass destruction is there than the U.S.-imperial economic
blockade of Cuba?
President Bush as Rome's
first century emperor, Caligula: Is George W. really that bad? ...
We have already shown
that any measure adopted by the Cuban authorities is immediately discredited by
the fundamentalist usurper who arrived at the White House through a
world-famous bungle. Like a modern Caligula , he has institutionalized torture as an
official method of dealing with those he classifies as enemies. It is difficult
to comprehend how a psychopath raised to the heights of power can be regarded
as a referee and leader of the struggle for liberty - understood by
reactionaries [the right] as “political and economic” freedom, so that for
example, people are free to die of hunger under a social model dominated
by predatory private corporations. Bush is a disgrace, even to the United
States' people themselves.
In that vein, Bush has
surrounded himself with the most primitive elements of the counterrevolutionary
exile population to attack any sign of opening from the island. The imperial
administration has sought to interfere with the recent announcement about the
diffusion of cellular telephony on the island by declaring that it will use
this new means of communication to attack the Cuban government.
Such a warning from the U.S.
Nero , surrounded by the heirs of the exiled Cuban
oligarchy who for half a century have been plotting their revenge and return in
order to demand the restitution of their ill-gotten property expropriated by
the Revolution.
This month, the
Cuban government has complained that U.S. diplomats have been aiding those
seeking to oust the government, especially through Marta Beatriz Roque -
that nation's leading dissident.
For our own peace of mind, we
should read such signs from the White House as symptoms of the decay that
pervades this administration, which has failed in political and economic terms,
and which will be remembered as one of those global nightmares from which the
people of the world wish to emerge, taking as an example the case of Cuba. Even
with its many shortcomings, these pale when compared to its social achievements
and dignity, whish are things always worthy of emulation.
Therefore, although the
conditions imposed by economically powerful U.S. interest groups will try to
bind the hands of the next president of that country, the truth is that with
the approach of almost-Democratic-candidate Barack Obama, the situation can
turn and give way to a stable relationship between the two countries.
Rebuilding U.S. relations with Latin America is necessary for us and for the
U.S. itself, and this will be impossible without rebuilding relations with
Cuba. Already John McCain, in an attempt to discredit Barack Obama, has accused
him of lacking expertise in international affairs. This remains to be seen; but
the truth is that the Republicans - and especially Bush - are expert only in
leading their people into wars they cannot win.
*Jaime MartínezVeloz is a former member of the Mexican Congress from the
Party of Democratic Revolution [PRI]
